A Phone Call
by Srebrna
Summary: How much can change if you just answer the phone on your control board? Post-4-finale, all spoiler warnings apply. 10/Rose.
1. A call at the right time

**AN:** Everyone is entitled to their own fixer-upper, right? Me too. So, here is my view of the story. If you don't want to see s4 spoilers, close the window.

Of course, nothing recognisable belongs to me.

--

The phone hopped and moved, as the vibrating alarm propelled it across the control boards switches and levers. He looked at it without much interest – bogus calls and wrong numbers did make one weary. He pushed a dial-and-button device to show the number on the main screen, as the mobile display went black long time before already. At the last moment, he caught the number.

"UK area code" he murmured, putting on his spectacles. "Who may be calling me from UK? We have Jack on subnet, and even if he used a phone, you would have put him through directly, now, wouldn't you? Who else..." he scratched his chin. "Wilfred! Wilfred, it would mean that something is wrong with _Donna_..."

The phone went off again and TARDIS displayed the number immediately.

"Hello? Wilfred?"

Silence.

"Hello? Anyone there?"

"Yees" a young voice answered. "But I'm starting to wonder if I dialed the right number..."

"It depends who you were going to call" he shot back, relived it was not Wilfred. He pushed all thoughts of Donna out of his mind.

"Ah, well, I was planning to call this one bloke, you see, he... Ow, I'm sorry to take your time, I probably got the number wrong. I lost my old mobile, you see, and I'm not sure..."

"I am almost certainly a bloke, so this one you got right."

"Yeah, but, y'see, he's somewhat special. Not your everyday bloke, if you get my meaning."

"That's also quite right. I'd say I'm not everyday bloke."

She laughed. He froze.

"Awright, sorry to keep you..."

"Rose?"

She inhaled and chuckled suddenly.

"Nothing like shitty connection to make me think... Oh, have you...? I mean, your voice sounds...?"

"No, nothing like this. Connection, that's the problem. Wait a bit, I'll make TARDIS boost the signal a bit. Rose? You there?"

"Yeah."

"Like, really?"

"Like, really really."

"Blimey."

They fell silent for a moment.

"Oh, I see, we picked up better signal now. You have visual there?"

"Vis...? No, sorry. New mobile, as I said, I bought some pre-paid junk, voice calls only."

"Ah. That's too bad."

"But if you get here, you could get all visual you want."

He swallowed and tried very hard not to imagine too much.

"What do you mean, get here? Where are you? I supposed you... Like, connected somehow from..."

"No, I'm here. Like, here-here, on Earth, no blimps in the sky, no earpieces, officially dead from what I saw on the plaque. Who wrote it? I almost sat down there, on the pavement."

He sat heavily on his command chair.

"Oh my. Wait, jus... just a moment, Rose, ok? I'll be there as soon... Where are you?"

He heard some movement.

"In Florence. On the south end of Ponte Vecchio."

"_Where?_"

"Earth, Italy, Florence. Nice city, lots of bridges. I chose the best known of them. So, how long is it going to take you?"

He stuttered.

"Your subjective fifteen minutes?"

"Be here."

They disconnected and only then did he wipe the sweat from his forehead. And allowed himself to ask this one silent question – W_hat happened to him?_

Because he knew, he just knew that he would never let Rose go willingly and here she was, not looking for immediate help, not desperate, but... waiting for him? In _Florence_? It sounded almost like a... _No. No way._

He stroke some dial delicately and turned a knob, still concentrating on _her_.

He touched down with less than his standard flair and certainly more stable. Since the "Earth-towing" experiment he redid most of the control board with Jack's and Martha's help in order to facilitate flying solo. They created a mess of cables, fountains of wires and even some preset command macros in order to make standard operations – which weren't numerous, of course – easier.

So, an English police-phone-box, on Italian soil. And he was supposed to meet her...

_Ah. Here._

The sun was setting and the shadows lied on the street of the bridge. People were milling about, making last purchases and taking picturesque photos. Suddenly, above the hum of the evening crowds he heard distinct sound of a pair of hard-soled heels, clicking on the stone surface. He watched, as she emerged from the relative darkness of the commercial gallery, first her shapely legs, clad in eerily silvery-grey pumps, then a short, conservative skirt – his hearts jumped – and a low-neckline blouse, and a jacked, slung carelessly over her shoulder. She stopped. His breathing stopped too. He was still conscious of his respiratory bypass, but...

Perhaps it was not her? He froze.

"Well, are you not going to say hello?"

Her voice was full of repressed mirth.

"I... I..."

"My favourite timelord, trying to say something bright."

She made the next step and smiled widely.

"Now, let's assume we already both said 'Hello'. Come. You must see this!"

She half-dragged him, still silent and stupefied, to the middle of the bridge and pushed towards the railing.

"Look."

He looked obediently. It was, indeed, a magnificent sunset, but when he looked at her, she was not watching it, but checking time on her pocket watch.

"And you? Are you not looking?"

"Have seen this before."

"Me too. On various planets."

"Yeah, but never Earth, Italy, Florence, right? So now, you can add this one to the collection" she smiled innocently. "You want something to eat?"

_Oh my, sure..._

"No, actually, I'm not so hungry. You?"

"Neither."

He looked at her uncertainly and touched her sleeve.

"You are really here."

She laughed, throwing her head back and shaking her hair.

"Without any doubt! But, I must tell you, this was one hell of a journey."

"Maybe we could..."

"...continue in a more intimate place? Yes."

The customers and spectators suddenly noticed a lack of something, but nobody actually saw what happened.

As they walked towards the end of the bridge and the side alley where TARDIS waited, the mass of humanity seemed to part in front of them, and when everyone else had to make their way with elbows and force, they just... walked. Quite in the same way as he saw Rose walk at the first moment. As if there was a force wall, or a shield, about them, making them separate from their surroundings.

They reached TARDIS and stood there, yet unsure of what happens next.

"You still have the key?"

She simply reached around her neck to undo the pale-pink ribbon, where, on a ring, a cold key did hang. She held it in her hand and made a step towards the door.

"May I enter?" she asked, not looking at him.

"Always. I would never..."

She only smiled.

"Thank you."

She turned the key in the lock and pushed the door open.

"Ladies first" he motioned her to go.

She stood, hands propped on the railing, one leg up, shaking off her shoe.

"Awful things, these pumps."

"So why did you wear them?"

She smiled mischeviously.

"To see your face when you look at me for the first time."

Jesting, joking, none ready to speak seriously.

"You will tell me how you managed to get here?"

"Here, Florence? By train. Here, this reality...?"

"More interesting, actually."

She pushed herself away from where she stood and picked up the discarded footwear. Few quick strides took her to his chair.

"Here, or the kitchen? I'm dying for a tea."

"I'd rather you didn't do this here. Black, milk?" he grabbed the tin from the cupboard already.

"Green, lemon" she smiled again. "Changed, my personal physician says it's better for me."

"I see. Looking good, Rose, you know?"

"Yeah. I kinda have a mirror, you know" she patted her sleeve to straighten out an invisible wrinkle.

"So... you will finally tell me what's going on?"

She took the cup and blew gently on the steaming surface.

"If you are afraid I damaged something when I appeared here, then no, there was no risk to the realities."

"So?"

She smiled and sat back on her chair.

"The cracks and holes you, we used the several previous times, they were errors, yes? Like, they should not be there? That was why they emitted all this energy and you could find them?"

"More or less, yes. More accurately..."

"Later. So, as they were errors, they were hurting their surroundings up to the point of realities breaking, universes merging, Cybermen, Daleks and everything else spilling through the walls."

"Precisely."

"So, we should not use them – void stuff covers us, we can get sucked in, we could help Daleks come back... but what if I didn't use one. Or the dimensions cannon, as it used the fact that the walls were already crumbling."

"It would be nice, but quite impossible."

She smiled again and took a sip.

"Aaah, good. Toby would be so proud of me. Well, no cracks, no jumps, no cannon... but what do you think about delicate and careful slipping?"

He raised his eyebrows, inviting more details.

"Low. Energy. Transmission. Points" she said slowly and with emphasis.

"You must be kidding."

"No. We found one."

He tapped an uneven rhythm on the tabletop.

"Where?"

"Some fifty kilometres south from here."

"You know that the Time Lords have been searching for low energy transmission points since... since..."

"Yes. He told me."

Again, silence fell.

"He... He let you go?"

She bit her lip.

"Not exactly. That is, he wanted me to go. It was basically all his idea."

"So, he found out how to detect the LETPs, he helped you go through, he pushed you into one...?"

"Kinda" she inhaled sharply. "He explained to everyone – starting with Dad – that there is a possibility. He said he has enough Donna in him to get the 'gut instinct'. And this gut instinct was telling him to find a non-violent way to get through. We spent months working on the basic mechanics, invented a new department in Torchwood – he got to have his own team, of course, only geniuses and alpha-whatevers, it looked like catherding, absolutely brilliant – and we got some two hundred new patent registrations out of this. Including several new alloys of non-terran origin, two new kinds of power cells and an olfactory communication device. Not too useful, but fun to create anyway."

She stood up, still holding the cup.

"So, he pushed the project on, we dug, we sent probes, we worked on almost inexistent data and some crazy almost-timelord memories, my own gut instinct, when available and experimentation."

"And?"

"We finally got one of our people to the other side – whatever other side he managed to get to. Mind you, we could have found a slip into any other universe around. But he had this wicked piece of machinery which, in short, detected time anomalies. Don't ask. He landed in Italy, somewhere near Siena, he managed to start a two-way transmission, set up a communication hub and move around a bit. Ran the analysis, sent them back and even managed to get back in one piece. Two years later, unfortunately, but this was expected, so we set up an incoming room for him in the appropriate place and caught him at the right time. So, we did some more calculations and... here I am."

"Yes, here you are" he repeated slowly.

"You are... not happy?"

"It's not... I am, Rose. I am. But I'm worried about..."

"Toby. Tobias Harold Eniht."

He stared at her in astonishment.

"Tobias Harold Eniht, Doctor of interplanetary protocol."

More stare.

"Oh, come on, timeboy! Read the anagram! Do you even know how long it took us to make this one up? Dad was furious, because Toby didn't want new documents before he creates the best name possible, ever. So?"

"T.H.E. Doctor...?" his eyes twinkled in merriment.

"Precisely."

He sipped his tea, as she moved restlessly around the kitchen in silence.

"So, what about... Toby?"

"He said I should do it."

"And you listened to him? That would be the first one."

She bit her full lower lip.

"The third one. The first one was not to cannon myself across everything and strangle you. The second was to marry him."

He felt as if someone hit him in the stomach.

"Why so surprised? You don't suppose you can throw together two people like us, send them to another universe, strand them there without anyone else understanding their problems and not expect some outcome? _Especially_ when one of them has the whole Doctor's memory and brains and emotions stuffed inside? And the other has proved over and over that she is unable not to care for mad lonely gods...?"

She sniffed and threw her head back.

"We had to go through therapy. Dad organised everything. They helped us to cope with this. Toby created his history to make himself move believable. I had only half a year to create, he – some thirty years. Then he got hired by Torchwood, as they already knew about him – had to, they provided the therapist – and we did well" she pressed a finger to the tip of her nose. "We were the best team ever in Torchwood."

"Were?"

"Well, I'm not going back, am I?" she smiled weakly.

"But he needs you" he pressed.

"Not anymore" she stated calmly.

"What happened? Did you split up?" he came closer to her.

"No, Doctor" she looked at him. "He died."

Doctor swallowed.

"But... He was healthy. As good as I, only thirty, maybe thirty-three."

"Ninety-one."

He made an involuntary step back.

"Since we celebrated his fifty-fifth birthday, he's been working on the detector. He knew that when we found the right hole, slipping through it would only be the matter of time. He knew he would die and wanted to give me this much. He said it was a debt he must pay."

She turned to the kitchen counter and put the cup down carefully, as her hands shook convulsively.

"I don't understand. He... He was thirty, probably, the day we... Ninety-one? How?" he stopped suddenly. "Stasis? Criogenics?"

She shook her head and breathed a few times to calm down, out of sheer habit.

"You jumped years? Did you leave him to..."

"No!" she swirled, her eyes full of tears. "No, I didn't leave him! It was _you_ who left us! Left us without even checking one stupid little thing! You know how it hurts when you actually promise your husband to be with him, always and forever, and to see him age faster? I assumed, he is some ten years older than me, biologically, so ok, he starts graying, he gets some heart problems, but I, I still stay the same! My mother got a heart attack, my dad, Pete, he got arthritis and started to use a cane, but I am still good! My younger brother graduated, got a job and a wife and I danced at their wedding and they thought I'm his younger sister! But, it's ok, because Rose always looked young, now didn't she? You know, what tipped us off? I'm sure Toby knew it before I did. It might have been this little fact that we couldn't get a baby, no matter what we did. We wanted to, tried to..." her voice trailed off as she saw his face pale "...but no way, never possible. Toby knew since then, I suppose. I, with my stupid human thinking, got it way later. I kept denying it, I kept pushing it away, but... here I am. My husband died peacefully, of old age, and I stayed with him, as I promised. He tried to send me away, but I am little stubborn Rose Tyler and I didn't go. I held his hand" she inhaled quickly "and I watched him... go. He watched me all the time. And, just at the very end, he squeezed my fingers and said... he said..." she sobbed.

"Rose, you don't have to..."

"I _must_!" she shoved him out of her way as she paced to and fro. "He said '_Ask him again, caer'main_'."

He straightened as if someone slapped him.

"He remembered Gallifreyan quite well, you know. All this knowledge, one human mind... I know, Donna didn't cope. How it ended, did you manage to...?" she looked at him with her bright eyes.

"I got her home safely. She teaches fast-typing classes now at one of the new schools."

She looked at him, stupefied.

"How far back did I..." she closed her eyes and _felt_. "Ten years? Only ten years passed...? Oh, Toby..." she sobbed again. "He must have set the detector to catch some other..." she tapped her lips. "It means everyone is still alive, right? Nothing happened to them? May we go to meet them?"

"No"

She blinked.

"Why? I wanna meet Jack! And Sarah-Jane! Doooctoor!"

_She is whining._

"First I want to know what happened to you" he said sternly.

"But... is this not obvious?" she looked at him with her big, innocent – or not so innocent anymore – eyes.

"No. It. Is. Not" he uttered. _Mood swings. Remind me of somebody._

She reached for him and caught his hand with both of hers.

"What do you feel? Close your eyes!"

He did it obediently. And he felt...

"...cold. Your hands are... cold?"

"And so? Use your astounding timelord logic on this."

"So, you must have another cup of tea." _Cold. Cold hands?_

"No. Logic. Doctor, why does one feel something is cold?"

"It is cold in relation to his own body." _Aw..._

"Right. So, relatively, my hands feel cold to you. Now, once again, tell me, what is the normal body temperature for you?"

"About your 15 Celsius."

"And so...?"

"So, your hands are probably colder. Cyborg...?"

"NO! Other reasons?"

"If this is your current body temperature, then you must be dead."

"Quite the opposite, I assure you."

He shook his head.

"Now, give me your hand" she pulled him closer to herself and placed his right palm on... under her breast.

"ROSE!"

"Oh, shut up. You feel this?"

"Yeah. Nice. Soft."

"I mean, deeper, you git. Give me the other hand" and she put it symmetrically to the first one.

He stood there, listening and _feeling_ with his whole being. Nothing could hide this. He could not push it away anymore.

He opened his eyes and looked at her.

Rose Tyler.

His companion.

Love of his life.

A Child of Time.

Living Vortex vessel.

Time Lady.

His lips were soft and he tasted familiarly but strangely, almost the same, but different enough to be something else. She close her eyes and _felt_ and strengthened the _feeling_ to reach out to him, and _felt_ his and hers hearts beating faster, so fast, his lips on hers, and nothing else in the whole time and space was important anymore, ever.

* * *

**AN**: You can now click on Chapter 2, if you wish for a mood-crashing epilogue. If no, stay here and review :)


	2. Epilogue

**AN:** This is a mood-spoiling epilogue to the previous chapter. I wanted to include it in the first before, but I does ruin this nice, angsty feeling, to I put it separately. If you like the first chapter as it is, leave now :)

* * *

The phone hopped and moved, as the vibrating alarm propelled it across the control boards switches and levers. He caught it, pressed the control console button marked with "ACCEPT CALL" and propped himself on one elbow.

"Yes?"

"Doctor? It's Jack here. How are you doing?"

"Quite well, I can't complain" he answered lightly, looking at Rose as she stretched and yawned, blinking. Human enough to be sleepy, Time Lord enough to keep up with him. _Oh my_.

"I hope it is not only a pose, you know. We saw TARDIS come in and stay there for some time, so we wondered if you are maybe in need of assistance."

"No, actually, no, thanks. I have all assistance I need here, with me."

Rose sat up, not bothering to cover herself.

"Someone new? From Italy?"

"Not exactly. I picked her up in Florence, you see, but she is British. Kind of, actually. But I met her in London first you see."

"Oh. So, you won't be needing any of us to keep you sane for some time?"

He shook his head and laughed.

"No, I think _time_ will not be of any meaning in this case."

Jack inhaled audibly.

"Who...?"

"Captain!" Rose finally dragged herself up and closer to the microphone. "Could you _please_ disconnect? You are kind of disturbing us."

She heard Jack choke and suddenly felt herself dragged down to the floor grille.

"Rose-girl, there is this one thing..."

"Yes?"

"The fact that your junk of a mobile doesn't have a visual link does not matter other people don't use one..."


	3. Girl Talk

**AN:** Actually, it was only going to be one chapter and the little epilogue-thingy, but this explanation here was bugging me yesterday, so I decided to write it down and get rid of it. So, here you are, second and last part of "A Phone Call". I hope to get my other pieces updates soon...

Thanks to everyone who reviewed or put this story on alert :)

--

They were sitting quietly in the control room, each nursing a cup of tea, decidedly _not_ looking at the other. Finally he put his down and turned to her in his swivel chair. He studied her profile – pursed lips, small nose, forehead covered by a bandanna, backswept hair held in a high ponytail – and saw every little symptom he sought for. The slight widening of her eyes, cheekbones a bit higher than before, lips just a tad thinner...

"Did it hurt?" he blurted suddenly.

She looked at him, not understanding.

"TARDIS said it rebuild... it rebuild you. She said it reconstructed the most crucial pieces."

"I don't really know" she sighed. "I have had so many accidents, near-death experiences and bouts of simple illnesses gone wrong that you could have probably covered transmutation into an elephant by these. Only, the elephant would be easier to notice" she smiled insolently. "Being a... being _this_ was not so much different from being a human. I just don't know. Why?"

"TARDIS... she scanned you before you – you two – before we left you. She says she didn't alert me at this time, because there was nothing to alert me about."

She sat up.

"What?"

"I say, she saw something. Perhaps, like Donna, you needed a kick-off, one stimulus, to start the transformation. Apparently..." he looked at the control tower "... she saw the beginnings. She says... Oh my. You should hear her now. Do you?"

"How?"

"Telepathy, kind of."

"Never tried it."

"Here, hold my hand" he reached for her and put her cup down, catching her fingers. "Now, close your eyes and relax. Think of the heart of TARDIS..."

She did as he asked, but at first all she could see was... kind of pink, actually. As she began to say something, the pink – candyfloss – fog parted and acquired a golden glow.

"_Welcome, Rose Tyler."_

She tried to catch the shape of the being, but it shapeshifted constantly and she had trouble focusing her eye – or her mind eye – on anything concrete.

"_Don't try so hard, dear."_

The being suddenly solidified and smiled. She – as it was definitely a humanoid female – stood in front of them, looking questioningly.

"_Why this way? Don't you think she should be able to do it by herself?"_

"_Not yet, I'm afraid."_

"_You underestimate her"_ TARDIS turned towards Rose and reached out. _"Come."_

Rose looked at the Doctor at least and gasped – probably in both worlds – at the sight.

He was not wearing his suit anymore, and his face... He didn't look like himself, at least not exactly. Hair longer, and combed back, a bit grayer at the sides, no sideburns, nose somewhat wider... Still looked like her Ten, but she could see distinct traces of Nine. _So the other parts are from the previous versions, I suppose._

"_Yes. This is the compound view of the Doctor, as the effect of his all personalities through the last thousand-and-something years."_

"_I thought it was nine hundred and something" _Rose answered, not taking her eyes off him. _The ears!_

"_He may be a Time Lord, but I would not call him proficient in counting his own age."_

"_Oi! You are bruising my ego!"_

"_You know it, I know it, why should she not know it? She would find out soon enough."_

He smiled, and the smile was his, only his. She could have kissed him there and then, only for this smile.

And she didn't mind the new – or old – clothes at all. They were, in short, dignified. Of course, a suit was good, formal enough even when slightly rumpled, but still he looked like a skinny boy and combined with his hair gave him a general air of a crazy maths professor. This Doctor, here, was... elegant. Dignified. Yes, definitely this. And stirring something inside her – before, she would call him dressed up, just to make him angry, but these clothes, the combination of dark colours, clingy, soft cuts and a cape-like outer layer, high collar and a bit of trailing sleeves made him look like a symbolic great magician – without the tawdriness usual to such characters. _And probably getting him out of these would be nice, too_.

"_Getting back to the topic. Rose, let go of his hand, please. You need to be able to talk to me without his help."_

"_Why?" _he was a bit angry.

"_Because we are going to have girl secrets, you dumb _male_."_

As TARDIS reached for her, Rose stood on her tiptoes and pressed a quick kiss to the Doctor's cheek, trying very hard not to linger too much.

"_Be right back."_

And she opened her hand, losing contact with his fingers, which finally felt warm for her.

And the world around her didn't disappear.

"_Come, Rose."_

They moved, floated, walked through the mist until TARDIS deemed it safe to talk.

"_He told you the truth"_ she began without any additional ado. _"I scanned you before we left you and I deemed it proper to leave you there."_

"_Why? It hurt so much..."_

"_That is the life of a Time Lord, Rose."_ TARDIS looked at her sorrowfully. _"It may sound harsh, but you were not yet a grownup then. At least, not a grownup by Gallifrey standards. A Time Lord is not only the flesh, not only the physiology – although it is nice to have it, as you already know – but being a Time Lord means being one in heart and soul. Your soul was..."_ she was actually searching for words. _"I'm sorry to say, but your soul was too innocent. Too childish. I was afraid living here, with him, and trying to cope with your body at the same time may destroy you."_

"_How? He would never have hurt me!"_

TARDIS looked away, looked up, looked at her hands, fingers twisted and entwined in her lap.

"_Not intentionally, no. But look, he was about to loose Donna – I knew he had to, she was already dying – he had just seen his clone committing a genocide, or rather, a xenocide, and if I told him you were at the beginning of a transformation into a Time Lady, he would have taken you, wrapped you in cotton wool and kept you in here until you went through all physical changes. And only then he would find out that you are... Not what he needs."_

She finally raised her eyes to Roses and sighed heavily.

"_You, living in here, your changes taking place in controlled environment, no contact with outside, only Doctor for company, no dangers, no duties, no obligations... What does it sound like?"_

"_Shelter."_

"_Sheltered childhood. And terrible, overwhelming spoiling. He would not plan it, he would not mean it, but he would spoil you silly and I mean as literally as it comes. You would be a pampered, absolutely useless Time Lady. Child in adult body, with all the powers but no responsibility. Like a five-year-old with a gun."  
"Do you think I would allow him?"_

"_Do you think you could actually have stood up to him? You have been ill for long periods of time in your life on the other side, weren't you? So imagine having a flu here, or a cold... And Doctor hovering at your side, all the time, careful, delicate, all the time around. You would have gotten used to it, to his constant attention and caring. And then you would be unable to undertake any serious responsibilities. Or at least that was what I was afraid of."_

They were silent for a moment, as Rose tried to digest what she heard and process the vision of Doctor as the overwhelming nurse. It could be true. She shuddered.

"_Another thing is, he needed you there. The other one. Toby. He was desperate and he would have perished without you. And look, he let you grow. You were partners – your life as equals is what now makes you able to stand up to the Doctor and give him an earful when needed. If you have stayed here, you would have always been a child, a dependant. Not you are a grownup, both in the matters of gallifreyan physiology and in the matters of psychic. You needed to live this life in order to become complete."_

They stared at each other for a moment.

"_So you say I had to go through an almost-normal human life, to experience all I could, in order to be... adult?"_

"_The most important thing about being a Time Lord – or a Time Lady – is what you probably already know." _the being's eyes fired up slightly. _"It is the conscious awareness of the fact that you are, indeed, unique and quite alone in the universe of mortals. You had to live through all this, because you would not have been able to understand him otherwise. You have lost your family, your husband, your world and life here. He has lost his entire planet, his entire race and everything except for me. You are now equal to him – or as good as I could predict. I hope you understand."_

"_In order to be able to live with him, here, I need to be able to relate. The only way to be able to relate to personal loss... is your own personal loss."_

"_I'm afraid so."_

Rose pushed her ghost-hair from her eyes.

"_I'm happy now. I think. I know that Toby was happy there, he got to live a fulfilling life and he died... Died, knowing that I would be having a fulfilling life thanks to him. Oh, this is twisted."_

"_You will be able to _see_, soon. Your real time senses are coming to you now, bit by bit."_

"_How did you know that I was changing, back then?"_

Rose closed her eyes, secure in the feeling of safety in this place-no-place.

"_You had a spark. And your blood vessels were already a bit... changed, yes. They were preparing to accommodate for second heart and other changes."_

"_And... If there was no Toby, what would you have done?"_

Fire being reached out to her and touched her cheek.

"_I would have told you. And I would have protected you from the Doctor's trying to protect you too much. I can only hope we would have won and grew your soul and mind in the right way. I'm sorry it took so long for you, but you must see, now you have a whole new life – not aging together, not getting old, and definitely not getting left behind. In fact, now you will be a co-pilot on equal rights here. We two will be able to finally communicate directly. I'll teach you anything you wish."  
_For a moment, Rose looked away.

"_I hope you can forgive me someday. Or at least, stand me. I love you, Rose. After all, you are my daughter. In a way."_

Her head snapped back.

"_What!?"_

TARDIS nodded.

"_Your transformation didn't begin at the Bad Wolf Bay – neither time - or on board of the Crucible. It began with the death of your first Doctor. Remember the day?"_

Rose only closed her eyes.

"_But I don't think you remember exactly what happened. You said you have a headache. That was the point when the Vortex couldn't cope, it would not stay inside, it would soon have burned you. And Doctor took it away. But he was not very accurate in this. After all, he knew he was going to die and regenerate, so he hurried the procedure up. And he left the spark inside you. I didn't see it then – didn't look. I was still mourning him, as I mourned all the previous ones. Even more, as he had just found some kind of happiness, after all these years of travelling alone. You gave him a reason to love life again. And he loved you for this so much that he... He too didn't look too close. And when he regenerated, the last thoughts of the previous body were lost, or muddled, and he didn't look neither. So you were both growing together – he, as the new Doctor, and you – the new Rose"_ she shifted in her place and stared at Rose with her fiery eyes. _"Doctor, as he is now, is your creation, Rose. You helped the previous one, he gave his life – not something he would have done only a year earlier – for a single being. And when this one was... more or less born, the circumstances of his death impressed the new incarnation. Your presence there, the fact..." _her voice trailed off. _"Um. You were... You know. Kissing. So when he regenerated, he..." _she stopped. _"This will be embarrassing. He was almost instantly conditioned positively towards your presence."_

Rose blinked.

"_In English, you mean, the fact that I was just a second earlier smooched by him left an impression on _him_, not only on _me_? And he was immediately in love with me as soon as he became the new one?"_ her eyes grew wide.

"_I know, it sounds weird, but some... residue, was left. It was by no means only him smooching you, I assure you. It was a full, two-way transfer of..." _she coughed _"...fluids."_

"_You make it sound nasty, really."_

"_Sorry. Think about it from the scientific point of view – he got a bit of you in the regeneration mix and the regeneration energy didn't burn it up, but allowed him to absorb it. If it was something hostile, it would have been rejected, I assure you. And then, it turned out, you got a bit of him. The wisp of my Vortex, the small trace of his DNA, your natural aptitude for craziness and accepting the weirdest things in life and boom, here we come, a new, human-born Time Lady. Of course, when a natural member of this race is born, he or she grows in his – or hers – natural speed and without the painful side effects. As you were already grown as a member of other – although at least humanoid and physically compatible – species, the process took longer and must have been painful. Also, the fact that you began your change in his presence, in his** constant** presence, made you the ideal partner for him. As he is the ideal partner for you."_

"_I am partly related to him. He is somehow related to me. So, what are we going to do about this mess?"_

TARDIS smiled slightly.

"_Rose Tyler. You are going to become the first Time Lady since the fall of Gallifrey. Is this a challenge enough for you?"_

"_Oh, yes" _she whispered. _"So, where do I start?"_

TARDIS laughed.

"_You already have. Since the moment you came on board I have seen your time senses growing, your awareness, your way of feeling the life around you. I have scanned you – a breach of privacy for which I am not going to be repentant – and if I didn't know you before, I would declare you to be a healthy, natural Gallifreyan female in her fourth or fifth regeneration."_

"_WHAT?"  
_The spaceship being tapped her cheek, looking for words.

"_Apparently the transformation used up some... I can count regenerations basing on the level of specific kinds of energies. I'll show you later on him" _she paused. _"Did you say 'near-death experiences'?"_

"_Yeah. A few of them, actually."_

"_Can you list them for me?"_

Rose concentrated.

"_Well, not counting the Void-jumping – there was danger, but not real effects on me – I got almost poisoned to death on one of the missions. Some kind of nerve gas. Then there was the shooting in our office, one of the employees got infected by Reylqians and went mad. Planned to shoot us all, actually got me in the spine. Nobody could explain how I recovered"_ she bit her nail. _"Toby could. Oh, Toby... Well, then there was exposure to radiation, whole-body burns, took three days of lying in ice and it disappeared. And last, drowning. Not in water, but in some oil. Not only I almost died of asphyxiation, but I was sick for days before they managed to get the stuff off my skin. So, four, really."_

"_That means fifth incarnation."_

"_Bbbut I still look the same!"_ Rose protested.

"_That is interesting, indeed, but it might have been the fact that the rebuilding process was in progress. It used up the regeneration energy to fix you, revive you and to further the changes."_

Rose stood up, feeling uneasy in her own body.

"_Shouldn't we be joining him?"_

"_Oh, he disconnected and is now strolling the corridors, waiting for us to finish. Don't worry, he will be fine. There are things he would have never told you and I think he knows you are better off with someone actually explaining you the facts."_

"_I'm... I'm grateful, I suppose."_

"_Don't worry. I know it is much to take in, and if you have any new questions, just ask. I'm not going anywhere."_

They both laughed.

"_Rose, before you go to find him, there is this one other thing..."_ she licked her lips. Apparently, this avatar of TARDIS had some human – or Time Lord – habits, to facilitate communication. _"This... Oh my. I have never had this talk, you know. You are a grownup, he is a grownup..."_

"_You want to have the birds-and-bees talk with me, now?"_

The fire being became a bit redder than before. Another pseudo-human trait.

"_I don't want to seem intrusive, but you both seemed almost overly enthusiastic. About... I mean, this is not the way it was done on Gallifrey. The children were carefully crafted by a team of specialists, the biologies of parents matched to find the best combination. The parents didn't even have to like each other. I'd say, it was all biology, no personal chemistry. Usually they didn't create personal relationships between sexes. There were... There was not much physicality in their social life."_

"_You mean, they didn't have much sex, yes? They made kids in test tubes – or whatever they used – and then brought them up to be the same distant and cold people they were?"_

"_No sex at all, actually. Sometimes, with someone of another species. Compatible, like humans. And unable to conceive offspring. Not between each other, it was simply _not done_. The proper way was to have a child with someone of maximum compatibility in intellect and biological features, to bring it up kindly and wisely, and to make it a useful member of society."_

"_So, why is he so different?"_

"_For one thing, he was an anomaly from the very beginning. A rebel. He stole me – not that I protested, he felt nice – and ran away, with his granddaughter as a companion."_

Rose would have choked if not for the fact that she was not in her real body.

"_Long story. I'll tell you someday. So, he was a rebel, he became an outcast... and now he has been alone, in the meaning of having one's people around, for the last... twenty or so years. Give or take ten, as I don't really know how to count this properly. Never cared. And now, now there is you, and you are compatible, you want him, and he wants you, as because of you he has just this little bit of human inside him which tells him to rebel again. And so he does, as you have seen."_

"_So, what's the problem?"_

TARDIS straightened and combed her firehair nervously.

"_None of us knows a **thing** about... about the natural way of Time Lord... reproduction. Nothing in my memory or my data banks has prepared me for supporting such an event. To tell the truth, Rose, I'm terrified. This will be the one time when I will be completely and absolutely useless for you. If you get pregnant at some point, and feeling this hormone war on board, there is no escaping this, we will be inventing everything as we go."_

"_Isn't this the best way?"_

"They only I know" he said, catching her as she slid down from her chair. "You two ladies finished dissecting my character?"

"We weren't really talking about you, you git. Girl talk does not have to be about men."

He looked at her doubtfully, but took her hand without further questions.

"So, Rose Tyler. Where do you wish to go today?"

She smiled at him dazzingly.

"Let's go... Somewhere. TARDIS?"

"_Yes?"_

"Pick the destination. I'm going to be distracting the main pilot, so you are on your own for a bit."

"_Yes, ma'am!"_

"Distracting...?"

"Oh, shut up, timeboy."

Hormones, chemistry or early imprinting. She didn't care.

He liked this kind of distractions.

And no phone call would disturb them now. He unplugged the stupid device and hid it in the pocket of his black leather jacket, hanging in the wardrobe.


	4. Pillow Talks

**AN**: This was really going to be a oneshot, then it grew an epilogue and a second chapter. And now, you know, I should be packing for my vacation, but every time I go into another room, there is this little plot bunny following me and if I don't write this down, I'm going to trip on the silly thing.

**AN2**: Packing became a priority, so I didn't post (or even finish it) before the vacation. If you feel your sensibilities offended by descriptions or references to things two adult and consenting Time Lords may indulge in, go somewhere else.

--

They stared at the starry ceiling, their heartbeats matching, breaths coming slowly and rhythmically.

"Why Florence?"

She blinked.

"What?"

"Why Florence? Why not Siena, it would have been closer."

"The romanticiness."

"The _what_?" he rose on his elbow to look at her.

"The romantic quotient of the place. Siena is much lower on the scale. The sunsets are nowhere as pretty there."

It was his time to blink.

"Sunsets...?"

"What are you, Doctor The Parrot? Yes, sunsets. And mists, and sunrises, whatever makes local lovers and sweethearts more lovey-dovey and sweet."

"I still don't get it."

"That is just because it was Toby who got the idea" she smiled sadly. "Time Lord mind, human..."

"...gut instinct. I know. Donna repeated it often enough that night."

"OK. So there was this guy, a photographer. And he was a widower, his wife died of cancer. And before she died, he took her for a trip, all around the world, the prettiest places, most romantic palaces, museums, bridges, everything. And when she died, he went again on the same trip, to cope with the sorrow. And he took lots and lots of photos. Afterward, whenever he submitted one of his photos for a contest, be it wildflower macro shot, sand at noon or camels by night – he won them all. So someone got suspicious and started to analyze his photos. And they found nothing. But Toby, he got bored at times, so he started to check other parameters than just the picture, and he found out – every and each one of them was taken in a spot of high romanticiness. Kissing bridges, churches... whatever. Each was a meeting spot, or dating lane, or... You see the logic?"

"Go on."

"Ok. So we went to these spots and took various measurements. And found _something_. People meeting, smooching, petting and whatevering in such places loaded them with specific energy that made others feel happier when approaching the spot."

"And...?"

"And Ponte Vecchio is such a spot. Just that. Actually, whole Florence is one big high romanticiness point."

"Ach. So you took me there to get my endorfines up?"

"Nah. To get _my_ endorfines high enough to be ready before you appeared. I had to be pretty high to call you, after all."

"You were afraid? Of what?!"

"Oh... that you were out of time. That you were somewhere in the middle of something – probably fifteen somethings. And so on."

"I see."

xXxXxXx

"Where did you get a _UK_ mobile, of all things? If you went through in Siena and just moved to Florence?"

"I took it from home" she reached over the edge of the bed and fished the little phone from her jacket pocket. "See? Vitex."

"But you are _the_ Vitex princess, after all. Why didn't you get something..."

"Like, smarter? Snappier?"

"Perhaps?"

"I didn't want Torchwood to map my movements. I bought a pre-paid, a few of them, used the card up and discarded the phones – sold them in second-hands, too – they never caught up with the changes."

"But I thought it was Torchwood who helped you to find the right spots?"

She yawned.

"Yeah, as long as Pete lived and I kept a low profile. This non-aging thing kind of got on their nerves. So we did everything we could, we saved heaps of money and after Torchwood cut us off from their resources, we funded our own research."

"Good thinking."

"Toby's."

"Right. So, Torchwood was spying on you?"

"I'm pretty sure, yeah. We actually managed to pull some of their people, the ones who weren't secrecy-sworn or anything, so they weren't happy with us at all. I suppose we weren't very obscure in out goals – they wanted the technology we were supposed to be developing, as they thought we were making some superior variation of dimension cannon. Some kind that does not need the walls to be already crumbling, like. They didn't want repetition either, and they have worse grip on the rift energy tapping, too, than Jack has here. So they can't really use it as effectively. They... snooped, really. But didn't get any useful data, because we kept all vital information on Toby's computer and he managed to magic his security somehow and they never got to get in. I think they still don't know what happened. Our team was paid well and their future was secured in several other development and research labs. I doubt Torchwood would be able to catch up with all of them – the labs we found are pretty strict about keeping things out of government reach. Some of them are in quite distant points of globe" she sighed, rolling on her back. "I hope they are doing ok."

"Will be."

"What?"

"Relatively, from this point of time on planet Earth of your origin, they will be. Hell, some of them are not yet born."

"Shut up. I'm a Time Lady and I say 'are'."

"Nannanna. Make me. I am a Time _Lord_ and I say 'will'."

"Oh, yes? You are a Time _Lord_?" she raised on her elbow.

"Oh, yes."

"And this makes you better _how_?"

"Longer experience. And I'm the dominant gender."

"You are _what_? Gallifreyans were patriarchal?"

"Not exactly. But female Gallifreyans had a much lower ratio of specimens with proper time and space control, so they usually took care of more... sedentary activities."

"Like what?" she hissed.

"Laboratories. Watching nearby time and space anomalies. Controlling the bureaucracy. Examination of youngsters. Um. Grading flying exams. And so on. General overseeing of the planetary existence. Mostly. Some of them became politicos and they were scary. And _I_ mean scary. Like, you don't want to shake their hands because they might take it for political support."

"And that is why you try to make me change my grammar approach to the fact that Toby kicked me some sixty-or-so years back? No way. I say 'are' because that is my continuum with our neighbouring universe."

"Oh, be quiet, woman. No way I am discussing parallel universes in this bed."

She smiled at him and batted her eyelashes, dropping her mobile to the floor.

"_Make me._"

They didn't discuss any universes at all, for quite some time.

xXxXxXx

He was staring. At her. As she moved minutely, whispered some nonsense or smiled in her sleep. Her body didn't need it, but she still had to sleep more than him – to keep her psychic healthy, apparently. He didn't object – it gave him time to recuperate himself, even if he didn't sleep, he still rested and thought – of her, mainly.

She turned to her side, facing him, and reached out, not opening her eyes. He caught her hand and pressed a quick kiss to the fingers. Hearing her involuntary gasp, he licked them delicately, then more thoroughly, enjoying the delighted little moans she emitted. His lips touched her wrist, kissing it around, the delicate and soft skin of her forearm, the curve of her elbow...

"I always knew you were crazy about licking things, but I never thought it might be... Oh..." she murmured, still not looking. "It's nice. Mmmrmmmmm..."

"Happy to be of use, madame" he whispered, approaching her shoulder, his lips hovering over the skin of her arm, perfect teeth nipping it occasionally.

"Really lovely" she licked her lips. "But I meant to ask you something. Important."

"Later" he breathed.

"Oh... Oooummmmyyy..."

xXxXxXx

"How long do you think we will be living like this?"

_"Like what?"_

"Don't go all Doctor-y on me. Like _this_, like a couple of randy teenagers, which with our respiratory bypasses, double hearts and physiology we can keep up for a long time. I don't mean I don't enjoy the sex but I feel we are turning into little more than a honeymooning pair. After all, we should be out there, exploring, helping, solving mysteries, shouldn't we?"

"_You shouldn't, I'm afraid. For the time being, you are down here, exploring each other, helping the other one to understand you and solving the mystery of gallifreyan reproduction without the Loom."_

"That means we are stuck in this?"

_"At least _I_ am not going anywhere anytime soon. Take a few weeks. Or a few months. You both deserve them."_

She winked at Rose.

"_See it this way – you have been waiting for him for the last sixty years or so, haven't you? Ever since Toby let you discover you were something else?"_

"Indeed. But still..."

"_No stills. You are here. He is here. You will go to him and take your time. Use the peace. You may not have so many occasions in the future, once you start moving."_

Rose sighed and crossed her arms.

"You didn't answer my question."

TARDIS blinked and criss-crossed her legs on the 'ground'.

"_It is highly probable that you will never stop having high hormone levels and will be both interested in these activities for a long time. It is also probable that the condition lies in you – as soon as you..." she swallowed. "Your body will stop producing these amounts of hormones and pheromones and his organism will respond appropriately."_

"You mean, until I get pregnant, we will continue behaving like little oversexed rabbits?"

The ship avatar looked properly embarrassed.

"Oh, my."

xXxXxXx

"She said _what_?" he rubbed his eyes.

"Exactly this. Overload of sex somehow affected your hearing?"

"No, no... I just..." he covered his face with both hands. "It's not that I don't enjoy it, but I think we should get moving. We... I hope you aren't angry, I'd love to spend more time in this way, but I feel things happening around us. You feel it too, I know."

She nodded slowly.

"Yeah. Kind of general expectation waiting and watching us closely."

He looked her with a shine in his eyes.

"I love you, Rose Tyler."

She blinked, surprised.

"I said, I love you, Rose Tyler" he repeated slowly. "I said... I said the thing I couldn't, then."

"I was not ready" she whispered, transfixed.

"I'd say, I was not ready" he replied quietly.

"I am wondering..."

"Yes?"

She licked her upper lip.

"Why now?"

It was his turn to blink.

"Why did you feel ready now? After all we spent all this time... doing things. Usually people say it in other situations."

"I'm not 'people'" he stated with a smile. "And now, I felt ready, because you said it."

"Said what?"

He reached across the table.

"You said exactly what I have been thinking just a moment before. Nobody ever did this. Never ever. And I mean, nobody."

She sat, her fingers in his palm, her eyes wide and both of her hearts beating faster.

"Always lonely, even in the crowd of friends."

"I had never had a crowd of friends. But yes, none of them really understood. Even these of my – ours – species were either too young or on their own agenda. Never followed my calling completely."

"I will. Forever."

"I know."

"And... I love you."

He smiled crookedly.

"I know."

xXxXxXx

"I have a question."

"Another?!" he moaned.

"Come on, you had your Academy-or-something education in all things gallifreyan, I am a novice. You have to give me the data now and then, timeboy."

"Ok, shoot. Timegirl."

She grinned insolently.

"I know you appreciate... Um. Vocalisation."

"Oh, yeah" he breathed in the perfume she used for her hair. "I simply adore it."

"So, I have... A little problem. No, not a sore throat. Ok, not from this. But you... You always say my name, and I..." she trailed off, turning her head to the side.

He bit his lower lip.

"I see" he pushed her back into her pillow, and she stared anxiously at him. "You want to have something good to scream when I do _this_?" his lips caressed her left breast with experience and self-confidence.

"Yessssssss!"

"Or _this_?" he moved to the other breast and used his nimble fingers on the abandoned one.

"Absollut-t-t-tely."

He leaned over her, his lips slightly parted , watching her face closely. She was so beautiful – eyes half-closed, flushed skin, hair in absolute mess, lips glistening and oh-so-kissable.

He turned her head carefully and slowly licked his way up to her ear.

"When with others, call me the Doctor" he accented this with a quick kiss on her pulse and a nip on her earlobe. "I'm used to it, after all. And it sounds... good. But for you, and only for you, I say my name for the last time" he paused, looked at her and lowered his voice to ha husky whisper. "There will be no other. Nobody, but you, to call me _Theta_."

"Theta" she breathed, as if praying. He sensed a slight shock, like electricity, run through his nervous system. His body reacted quite favorably and he suddenly developed breathing problems even his bypass couldn't fix. "_Theta_" she used this special accent and tone that told him she was attempting to speak Gallifreyan. Wasn't good, still, but getting much better over time.

"It is only the short version of my real name" he added quickly, kissing her fingers, trying to dispel the tension.

"What is the full one?" she looked at him with curiosity.

"No way I'm telling you" he protested. "No way I'm having you shout it when you are having your... your Big O. It would be absolutely mood spoiling."

"As if you didn't spoil a perfectly good mood just now" she grumbled, sitting up. "You got me all worked up and..."

"Be quiet, Rose, please" he murmured, his mouth descending on hers.

He found his own name an unexpected turn-on, especially when screamed at the top of her lungs. Before and during her _Big O_. Afterwards she had, indeed, a sore throat.

xXxXxXx

"Don't you have _any_ data on women?"

He looked at her with bloodshot eyes.

"The only Gallifreyan female who lived here was my granddaughter."

"Your _who_?"

"Susan, my granddaughter. Did I ever tell you I was a monk in my previous bodies?"

"No."

"Because I weren't. Well, Susan isn't really a product of... direct relationship."

"I gathered that your – our people didn't really enter into direct relationships. TARDIS said something to that effect once."

"Well, we didn't. Not since I can remember at least. We used to, apparently, we couldn't have just evolved with Looms ready to use, but at some point the correctness, the genetic combinations, the perfecting of the species... well, it became the only way."

"So you say we have nothing. No idea how long it might take, what... changes I will have to go through...?"

He moved to sit behind her and started gently rubbing her back.

"Maybe we should get some human pregnancy and delivery books and try to extrapolate?"

She sighed and leaned back.

"We could. It could get us some starting point. After all, we are compatible physically, so the delivery should not be very different. Pregnancy, I suppose, may be longer. Much longer, even. There are things I should not eat, probably."

"I'll make a list of my personal allergies and get the general list for us as the species."

She turned a bit to look at him.

"You mean that the whole species was allergic to the same thing?"

"Not really. It is more in the area of poison. As in arsenic. Arsenic for humans, that is. I wouldn't bet on you having the full processing abilities, but I could eat a few spoonfuls and still would not feel any effect."

"And if you eat more?" she gasped as he massaged an especially tight spot.

"I'd get sick of the taste. For me it's like eating a powdered bad breath."

Rose went slightly green.

"Stop it. And bring me my blanket."

"Ay, ay, ma-am."

"Stop. It."


End file.
